Ten million flights in European airspace

10 December 2008

2007 EU annual report on European air transport

DLR provides data for the updated 2007 EU annual report on European air transport

The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has been appointed by the European Commission (Directorate-General Energy and Transport) as the official observatory on the European air transport market for 2007-2009. On 4 December 2008, the EU published an extensively updated version of the 2007 annual report drawn up by DLR Air Transport and Airport Research (DLR-Einrichtung Flughafenwesen und Luftverkehr). In this version, all surveys now cover the whole year.

To give some highlights: The report puts the total volume of air traffic for the EU Member States over the record-breaking year 2007 at 792 million passengers, a remarkable 7.2 percent increase over the spring. Almost 10 million flights were carried out in the airspace controlled by Eurocontrol (European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation), an increase of 5.1 percent. Four fifths of these were on schedule. The four European airports London Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt am Main and Madrid Barajas are among the ten busiest airports in the world in terms of the number of passengers handled. In 2007, they recorded growth rates of between 1 percent (London) and 14 percent (Madrid).

Aeroplane landing at night

Annual growth at 4.9 percent

According to its Global Market Forecast, Airbus expects global air traffic to grow by 4.9 percent annually for passenger flights and 6.0 percent annually for cargo flights in the period until 2026. For Europe, Eurocontrol expects to see an annual increase in flight movements of 2.6 to 4.2 percent for the period until 2013. On 15 October 2007, the first Airbus A380 was handed over to launch customer Singapore Airlines, ushering in a new era of civil aviation that will benefit the European aeronautical industry. Airbus itself, for instance, was able to book orders and options to a total list price value of over 180 billion US dollars.

All in all, the annual report provides an overview of the development of the European air transport industry as a whole. It serves as an important source of information for political and economic decision makers. In addition to this annual report, DLR Air Transport and Airport Research draws up progress reports on the development of the European air transport industry for the European Commission. In cooperation with the German Airports Association (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Verkehrsflughäfen; ADV), it also produces the half-yearly Low Cost Carrier Monitor and the "Luftverkehrsbericht" (the German annual report on the air transport market).